From University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Disclaimer: The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the positions or polices of the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Health and Human Services.

Registered nurses are integral members of health care teams in hospitals and other health care settings. As such, they play a pivotal role in the moral endeavors of health care and in the business of health care delivery. The nurses' primary commitment is to the patient, family, or community (1), but similar to their physician colleagues, their daily responsibilities are broad: They interact with many other individuals and are not immune to potential conflicts of interest within their work environments. Nurses also often serve as “gatekeepers” or intermediaries between institutions and industry partners and patients and families in determining whether and how to incorporate new technologies, informational materials, and other products into the delivery of quality patient care. Notably, we know very little about the day-to-day interactions of nurses with industry in hospitals or the broader health care system, and we know even less about whether or how these interactions create ethical concerns that could challenge or change the trusting relationship between nurses and patients as well as other relevant stakeholders.